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PReFACeIt was 9 October 2012. The school bus, a converted truck, hadtravelled only a few hundred yards from Khushal school in Mingora,north-west Pakistan, when a masked man stepped in front of thevehicle. An accomplice armed with a pistol climbed onto the tailgate atthe rear, leaned over and asked which of the 20 schoolgirls huddledinside was Malala. When the driver stepped on the accelerator, thegunman opened fire, shooting Malala in the head. 1Malala Yousafzai, 15, had become well known in thearea – and a Pakistani Taliban target – after daring tospeak out against the militants’ edict banning girlsfrom attending classes and their bombing of schools. 2Critically wounded by a bullet that tore through herhead and shoulder and lodged near her spine, shewas rushed by helicopter to a military hospital inPeshawar, along with two wounded school friends.From there, she was taken to England, where she hasmade a remarkable recovery and now lives.Hailed by international media and feted by humanrights groups for her courage, Malala is today famousaround the world. But she is just one of the manythousands of students, teachers, academics andother education personnel in dozens of countriestargeted with violence.This global study charts the scale and nature ofattacks on education; highlights their impact oneducation – including on students, teachers andfacilities; and documents the ways that governments,local communities, non-governmental organizations(NGOs) and UN agencies try to reduce the impact ofsuch violence and prevent future attacks.In doing so, it provides the most extensivedocumentation of attacks on education to date.Following earlier studies that UNESCO published in2007 and 2010, 3 it not only examines attacks onschools, as previous research has done, but alsoconsiders military use of education facilities and moreclosely examines attacks on higher education.The study’s four main aims are to: better informinternational and national efforts to prevent schools,universities, students, teachers, academics and othereducation staff from being attacked; encourage theinvestigation, prosecution and punishment of theperpetrators of attacks; share knowledge abouteffective responses; and help those who have beenattacked to recover and rebuild their lives – asMalala is doing – by providing recommendations foraction that the international community, governmentsand armed non-state groups should adopt andimplement.In July 2013, Malala addressed the UN GeneralAssembly and stressed the importance of protectingeducation. ‘The terrorists thought that they wouldchange my aims and stop my ambitions,’ she said,‘but nothing changed in my life, except this:weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Let us pick upour books and pens. They are our most powerfulweapons.’ 44